


Error

by Joking611



Series: Cari'ssi'mi Drabbles [18]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 15:31:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11854491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joking611/pseuds/Joking611
Summary: Liara is settling into her new role





	Error

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge Yourself: A Month Of Fanfiction 2017
> 
> Wednesday 8/16's Prompt: A piece from your life as fanfiction
> 
> Because Liara has IT issues too...

Liara sat back and reviewed her work.

Her predecessor possessed no small amount of intelligence, but his organizational skills had left something to be desired.

Apparently the Yahg had depended upon a single drone, along with his formidable memory, as the only methods of cataloging the massive amounts of data that he had accumulated over the course of decades.

The asari scientist was unwilling to trust such methods, and had set herself the task of indexing and cataloguing the Broker’s data library. Her intention was to be able to use methods she’s developed over years as a researcher to make data retrieval more efficient, and any data received more easily grouped by relevance. Her plan had the advantage of allowing the data feeding into the Broker’s network to become immediately useful to her, without having to be reviewed in advance by her, Feron, or the drone.

Feron had proven himself remarkable skilled in finding correlating datasets as well, although he himself did not have her talent for database design. They worked well together in converting the massive storehouse of data that had been provided to them into a manageable and usable form.

The faster the better, as far as she was concerned. If it were up to her, she’d spend all her time examining the data, evaluating it. The information that the Broker had on the Protheans alone would be enough to keep her busy until the was a matron.

If she were to live that long, she reminded herself.

However, she needed the automation, the self-indexing, the centralized catalogs. As much as she wanted to analyze the data available to her, the majority of her day was spent interacting with her network of agents. The former broker had allowed very little freedom in his underlings, requiring all decisions to be forwarded to him. She agreed that was probably a safer practice than allowing her agents autonomy, especially given how the former broker had advanced into his position. Still, it was time consuming, and Liara felt it a poor use of her finite resources.

Another hindrance was that the information drone had yet to be brought back online.

While Liara preferred her efficiencies to be gained in how data was collected and organized, the former broker had used the drone to execute procedures in the event of established criteria. Hence, while the broker did interact with his agents on an almost daily frequency, the drone had handled any exceptions that came to light.

While she waited for the most recent cycle of indexing to complete, Liara turned her attention to the drone. She’d already changed several of its operating parameters, as well as most of the pre-programmed responses. Unfortunately, the drone had been custom designed by the broker himself, and there were many subroutines that simply defied elimination. It did now only refer to her as the Shadow Broker, something that she was almost ashamed to admit gave her a tingle of pride.

She powered on the drone, and waited for it to finish the boot cycle.

“Greetings, Shadow Broker.”

Well, at least it was polite. Now that it was fully online, she tested her most recent round of reprogramming.

“Infodrone, assume standard operations.”

“Of course, Shadow Broker.” The drone hovered, spinning.

After a moment, it demanded her attention.

“Shadow Broker, agent 143 is siphoning funds from her discretionary account to a private one.”

“Noted, Infodrone.” She was really going to have to come up with an easier method of address. “I will take care of it.”

“There is a wetwork team sixty seven kilometers from her position. I will notify them that agent 143 is a designated target.”

“No!” She couldn’t have the drone killing people on its own. Goddess, what if it went after the Council?

“Agent 143 has exhibited behavior that meets termination criteria,” the drone insisted.

“Thank you for the information.” If the drone could be polite, so could she.

“There is a wetwork team sixty seven kilometers from her position. I will notify them that agent 143 is a designated target,” the drone repeated.

She rolled her eyes. “No, you cannot simply kill people on your own. I forbid it.”

“There are several designated criteria for automatic termination. Embezzlement of Shadow Broker funds is listed as number six. Historical behavior patterns have demonstrated that success in one transgression will lead to others, until a crisis level is reached. This may result in a reduction in perceived Shadow Broker strength, which could embolden others to also transgress.”

 _‘Spoken like a Yahg,’_ she thought, although the drone had a point. “Understood.”

“There is a wetwork team sixty seven kilometers from her position. I will notify them that agent 143 is a designated target,” the drone said again.

This time Liara demonstrated her frustration by thrusting her omni-blade through the drone, reducing it to sputtering fragments.

“What happened?” Feron’s voice sounded from her terminal.

“Just a malfunction,” she replied. “I’m still having issues with the drone.”

“Arashu take that dammed drone,” Liara heard the drell murmur.

“Feron?”

“Your drone. He hates me,” came the sullen response.

“It is a machine, Feron. It cannot hate anyone,” she said in her “educator” tone. “Please restore from yesterday’s backup. I fear that all the work I’ve done on it today was for naught.”

“That’s a big file. It will take about an hour.”

“I know, Feron.”

The Drell didn’t respond, just disconnected the call.

Liara sighed as she frowned sadly before reactivating her terminal.

“Team Occisor, this is the Shadow Broker.” She paused a moment to wet her lips. “Agent 143 has exhibited behavior that meets termination criteria…”

 


End file.
